KOONDROOK’S Arbuthnot Sawmills has announced the business will continue to mill red gum and other durable hardwoods despite the Victorian Government shutting down the native timber logging industry earlier than scheduled.
Managing director Paul Madden said he was still waiting to see all the fine print of the shock timber announcement before making a formal statement.
“What I can say right now is Arbuthnot Sawmills will continue to provide employment and prosperity in Koondrook and Gannawarra Shire for the long term,” Mr Madden added.
The government announced an expanded $200 million transition support package in last week’s State Budget, to transition away from native timber logging earlier than planned – by January 1, 2024.
But while the axing of the wider native timber industry way ahead of its own 2030 deadline may not worry the government, it has cost them the support of at least one senior union official.
On hearing the Premier would renege on his commitment to phase out the industry and its thousands of workers, senior Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union’s (CFMEU) Michael O’Connor quit his seat on the Victorian Forestry Plan Advisory Committee, citing the government’s failure to consult.
“The advisory committee was, quite frankly, a sham,” Mr O’Connor said.
“The union is not interested in being a prop for the state’s media unit.”
Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh said the government’s “devastating early closure” of Victoria’s native timber industry is “false environmentalism, false economy and false hope for workers, their families and their communities”.
Mr Walsh said the government’s abandonment of timber workers was “shameful”, labelling its retraining vouchers for displaced workers an insult.
“Labor has driven the final nail into the coffin for Victoria’s native timber industry – this decision will destroy communities and the livelihoods forestry underpins,” he said.
“The Budget was a grim day for timber workers and their families who have been callously ignored – the government has flatly refused to sit at the table and negotiate.
“Daniel Andrews is punishing regional Victorian communities for his government’s failure to control radical green agenda.
“Victoria is broke – at a time when the Andrews Government is mired in debt it is eliminating a sustainable industry with enormous economic generating capacity.”
A government spokesperson said that in 2019 it put forward a plan to support the sector as it transitioned, “backing long-term, sustainable jobs and giving local workers confidence about their future”.
“But since then, native forestry has been hit with increasingly severe bushfires, prolonged legal action and court decisions,” the spokesperson said.
“There are no alternative timber supply sources available domestically or internationally which can offset the current disruptions to supply to Victorian mills and there are no options for regulatory reform which can prevent further legal injunctions continuing to disrupt native timber harvesting operations.
“All of that has drastically cut the timber supply we can actually use. And that’s left workers in complete limbo.
“Hundreds of workers, across Victoria, haven’t been able to work a day in recent months. They’ve got no certainty over their jobs. They don’t even know when they’ll be able to get back to work.
“Native timber harvesting in state forests will end in 2024 – with existing supports being brought forward and scaled up – which will mean every single timber worker will be directly supported to find a new job.
“Forest contractor workers will be secured with contracts for forest management works, enabling them to continue to work in the forests they know so well and contribute to bushfire risk reduction.”
